Let’s be honest, we all want a smart house that takes care of things so we don’t have to think about them. Like adjusting the temperature when the forecast changes or turning off all the lights every night when it’s time for bed, or doing our laundry so we don’t have to! (Just kidding about that last one, but it would be nice!) But the other two are just a couple examples of useful home automation ideas you could be taking advantage of!
There are so many smart home ideas out there where someone had a problem or a task they felt they could automate that other people wouldn’t think of. But almost all of these home automation ideas could make your life easier. That’s why we have scoured the internet and gathered any home automation ideas we could find and compiled them into a concise list.
Lighting Home Automation Ideas:
- Lights flash in your garage when someone rings the doorbell.
- If the natural light in the room is less than 50%, lights adjust to 50%. If natural light is less than 40%, lights adjust to 60%, and so on.
- When the garage door opens after dark, the lights automatically turn on, leading up to your door.
- Set your landscape lighting to turn on automatically at sunset and off at sunrise.
- Schedule your lights to turn on when you’re on vacation to make it look like you’re home.
- Motion sensors in key areas can signal the lights to switch them off when a room has been vacant for a specified period of time.
- Use one button to turn on or off all of the lights in your entire home.
- Use the GPS on your phone to signal your lights to turn off when you are a certain distance away from your home, and then turn on again when you arrive at home.
- At night, when motion is sensed, toggle the ramp lights to turn on to a dimmed light so you can see.
- Blink your lights in a certain color
- If carbon monoxide is detected
- When your Uber arrives
- When an Alexa timer reaches 0
- When the food in the oven is ready
- If you get an important email from designated people
- When Ring senses motion at the door
- When your washer or dryer finishes a cycle
Entertainment Home Automation Ideas:
- Sync up your light strips with your TV so they dim when you watch a movie.
- When you press pause, bring the lights up by 30%.
- Set the volume of a child’s TV to a preset level.
- Have every TV in your home automatically turn on to your favorite channel when you come home from work after opening the garage door.
Atmosphere Home Automation Ideas:
- When the dishwasher starts, signal the Roomba to clean the kitchen
- Set your temperature where you want it when you are getting close to home.
- Turn on your coffee maker using a smart plug when your Fitbit notices you’re awake.
- Automate your thermostat based on the weather.
- Schedule your temperature for energy savings.
- Toggle a notification when your dishwasher cycle ends.
- Heated towel racks that turn on at a set time for your morning shower.
- Program your shades and drapes to open and close automatically based on the position of the sun.
- Automatically turn down the heat or AC when you leave for work in the morning.
- Turn on or off your phone’s ringer when you get home.
Peace of Mind Home Automation Ideas:
- Make sure the garage door is closed at night with a smart garage door opener.
- Have the garage open when it detects that you have arrived at home.
- Get a call if your Roost water detection system detects a leak.
- Get notified if the front door or gate is left open for too long.
- Receive a text when your security cameras detect motion.
- Create temporary access codes for guests to use on your smart locks.
- Program the doors to auto lock after the garage door closes when you leave.
- Monitor your home security cameras from anywhere.
- Get alerted when your pet runs away.
- Find out when the mail is delivered using a multipurpose sensor.
- Water your lawn and garden according to current weather conditions, plant types, and more with smart sprinkler devices like Rachio.
- Soak your lawn if a house fire is happening using Nest Protect to sense the smoke and Rachio to soak the outside grass to prevent the fire from spreading.
- Save money and water by pausing your watering system automatically if it’s going to rain the next day.
- Receive an emergency call if your Nest Protect detects smoke.
- Automatically record your weight from a Withings scale in a spreadsheet.
We know there are an overwhelming amount of smart home ideas in this list but everyone has their own needs that they want to automate in their home. Hopefully you were able to find an idea on this list that you can use and enjoy as you make your house a smart house. If there are any home automation ideas that you think we missed, let us know in the comments or in an email and we would love to include them for others to take advantage of in their homes!